Good neighbors or good zoning: Clarkstown stops Camp Ramah from helping RCDS with dorms

Camp Ramah in Upper Nyack allowed Rockland Country Day School to use its dorm throughout the school year. But the camp's permit didn't allow that. The town rejected a change to the permit.
Nancy Cutler/lohud
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The dormitory at Camp Ramah in Nyack at the center of debate. Thursday, July 19, 2018. (Photo: John Meore/The Journal News)Buy Photo

It seemed like the makings of a nice, symbiotic relationship: A Jewish summer day camp that's been around for decades had a newly overhauled dormitory building that sat empty much of the year. An elite private school a scant 4 miles away in Congers needed a better place to house its international students.

But it's Clarkstown. And it's Rockland. So any decision about using property in a different way than it has been, or should have been, veers into deep concerns about overdevelopment, stressed infrastructure and hidden agendas. The fear — which many angry residents hardly leave unspoken — is that out-of-control growth fed by lax zoning oversight will spread to their neighborhoods, will tank their property values, will overburden their roads, their schools, their way of life.

So when it was discovered that Camp Ramah in Upper Nyack had already been leasing out the camp's dorm to Rockland Country Day School in Congers, and its permits didn't allow that, the opposition dug in.

Ramah and RCDS may have viewed the request as a straightforward permit tweak, but neighbors saw it as another step down the slippery slope of overdevelopment, and worse, another example of a property owner asking forgiveness instead of seeking permission.

Hundreds showed up to subsequent Zoning Board of Appeals meetings; the loud and active Preserve Clarkstown group took up the cause, as did the Mountainview Preservation Group, which formed in late 2017. Ramah, too, had supporters, including some neighbors who viewed the expanded use as minimally impactful on the neighborhood and worth the good will it would lend to two valuable local nonprofits.

After six years of effort, on July 16, the Clarkstown Zoning Board of Appeals voted down the permit change, 6-1.

It is unlikely the Ramah issue is over. Nor is the general discussion in Rockland about how much flexibility a property owner should have in determining land use, what constitutes a community need, and what it means to be a good neighbor.

Clarkstown Supervisor George Hoehmann said land-use regulation "becomes a balancing act." He pointed to the 2016 town law that restricts development on residential roads like Christian Herald, and the town's current efforts to aid West Nyack and Nanuet development. The town has made key property purchases under Hoehmann in an effort to preserve land, including the recent acquisition of RCDS' property, which the school now leases for campus use.

"Density is viewed as a very bad word by most people," Hoehmann said, "but (you) have to allow for appropriate development. That's something towns have been grappling with for generations."

Seeking permission

Whether the dorm rental would be an appropriate use was already a tricky question. Ramah had been allowing RCDS to use its "Ramat Ramah" dorm building throughout the school year, even though Ramah wasn't permitted to use the building in the winter months.

In other words, it had already broke the rules before it asked the town to bend them.

Camp officials say they didn't realize their error: The camp's longtime lawyer passed away about the same time they were considering the lease arrangement; an interim lawyer was caught off guard. The camp is now represented by New City attorney Ira Emanuel, a Rockland land-use heavy hitter.

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Ira Emanuel, attorney for Camp Ramah in Upper Nyack, speaks about the camp's special use permit application during a July 16 Clarkstown Zoning Board of Appeals meeting. The permit change was rejected.(Photo: Nancy Cutler/The Journal News)

The camp said that when it found out it was out of compliance — the fire department responded to an alarm in 2013 and hit the camp with violations — it applied for a special use permit.

Their request came at the height of Clarkstown's fears about creeping overdevelopment and a growing activism by a new group, Preserve Clarkstown.

Preserve Clarkstown was out in force at an August 2013 Zoning Board of Appeals meeting to oppose permit changes sought by a controversial Monsey developer. The Ramah application was also on the docket.

"When they heard the nature of (Ramah's) appeal, the audience went wild," said Amy Skopp Cooper, who is executive director of the Upper Nyack camp and national associate director for Ramah Camping Movement, part of Jewish Theological Seminary in Manhattan, the intellectual and spiritual center of Conservative Judaism.

Cooper said when she heard references to Ramapo, she believed her Jewish day camp was being lumped in with the rampant overbuilding and ignored land-use guidelines that are seen as supporting the burgeoning Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish community in that town.

Caught off guard, the camp withdrew its application without prejudice.

Peter Bradley led the Preserve Clarkstown troops that day. He is now the town councilman representing the ward that includes Ramah and RCDS. He agrees the ZBA meeting was a mess. But, "this is about people wanting to protect their home values," Bradley said, nothing more. "It's about preserving the suburban character that people left New York City for."

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The dormitory at Camp Ramah in Nyack at the center of debate. Thursday, July 19, 2018. (Photo: John Meore/The Journal News)

A path forward

Rick Tannenbaum and Tina Traster agree. The couple are part of the Mountainview Preservation Group and have long expressed concerns about development along the windy residential road that connects Route 59 and Christian Herald. They became active in the Ramah dorm issue this past spring.

Traster and Tannenbaum say the town's 2016 law requires non-residential structures be built on state or county roads. They say the town shouldn't make room for a dorm on a residential, two-lane street like Christian Herald, which accesses Route 9W, Mountainview and the notoriously hairy intersection with Lake Road/Route 303.

As for a path forward, Traster and Tannenbaum see none. "I don't see a compromise at all," Tannenbaum said during a joint phone interview.

Jocelyn Feuerstein, who officially became RCDS' head of school in July, still seemed a little stung by the loss of dorm space during a July 18 discussion. "The people of Nyack could not use their force (for a) positive," she said. "They've displaced 24 kids."

“If we have laws and they mean nothing, what is the point?”

Tina Traster, Valley Cottage resident

Ramah's Director of Finance and Operations Micheal Edelstein and Cooper say the camp has always had a good community relationship. Ramah and Nyack High School help each other supply extra parking for big events. The camp property has also been used as a training site for Clarkstown Police's Critical Incident Response Team, the FBI and New York State Troopers.

Tannenbaum questioned the concept of "neighborliness," though. He cited a "white paper" distributed by Emanuel, the lawyer for Ramah, which offered a primer on the camp's land-use situation. It included a section on the "Religious Nature of the Use" and a footnote to the Religious Land Use Act of 2000, the federal law that provides a wide breadth for religious organizations to develop properties that fit their needs. "I thought it was unneighborly," Tannenbaum said of the RLUIPA reference.

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Math and Science teacher Kennon Landis gives the graduation address during the graduation ceremony at Rockland Country Day School in Congers on Friday, June 15, 2018. (Photo: John Meore/The Journal News)

So where will RDCS' international students be housed come fall? Feuerstein said she's still seeking options.

When asked if Ramah would continue to pursue permit changes, camp officials deferred to their lawyer; Emanuel said he has not discussed next steps with his client.

Bradley, who campaigned on fighting overdevelopment, acknowledged that the issue is complex. "I feel for RCDS," he said.

Traster focused on the bigger picture: "If we have laws and they mean nothing, what is the point?"

Nancy Cutler is an engagement editor. Follow her on Twitter: @nancyrockland.